October 6th, 2004
Elixir And Longevity Drugs
As noted at MSNBC, "a pill that could extend life by 10 years or more would surely dwarf sales of just about any other drug on the market." But how do you know that the substance you are working on actually extends life by 10 years? "Guarente says [Elixir Pharmaceutical's] initial product likely won't be an anti-aging pill, simply because it would be too difficult to ever win approval for such a drug - clinical trials could well take 70 years." The FDA and similar agencies make it impossible for companies in the US and many other countries to market real healthy life extension medicine - not that anyone has any such thing yet. This regulatory environment ensures that large companies won't fund the most promising longevity research.